Is this really Equivalent Exchange?
by Charlesworthy III
Summary: Re-write.  When he's so unfairly thrown into the gate, only his trusted subordinate is there for him when he gets back.  Roy/Riza fluff.  MAJOR SPOILERS for Manga/Brotherhood.  Oneshot.


**A/N: IMPORTANT: I implore you, do NOT read this unless you know who the 5th human sacrifice is and what he loses for entering the gate. Major spoilers!**

* * *

The last thing Roy Mustang could remember was being pinned to a shadow. It wasn't an ordinary shadow, however. The shadow, which had expanded itself from a small boy standing to the left of him, not only successfully pinned the Flame Alchemist to the ground, but formed a transmutation circle and held a man with a worried look in his stupid-looking eyes above Roy's body.

He remembered being scared. So scared. He remembered thousands of thoughts piling up in his head, pounding against his skull and giving him a headache, pestering him up until the bright alchemic light died down.

They had blinded him for a moment and he had no choice but to close his eyes. Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, was petrified at this point. He had just been forced to commit the greatest taboo known to man.

A strange feeling whipped through the Colonel. He felt as if he were falling yet at the same time his feelings of being scared were now hard to hold onto. When he opened his eyes, he saw hundreds upon thousands of his memories playing back before him. Not only memories he had, but memories he had yet to have that were blurred and barely recognizable. He would have assumed that it was for the best, but he couldn't think. Information was rushing into his head and flooding his brain. It felt as if his head were about to explode.

Then, as quickly as it came, it disappeared and Roy found him standing in front of a large stone door with Latin words inscribed on a carving that looked an awful lot like a tree. He didn't have to be told to know where he was.

"So you opened the gate after all..." A voice cut through the unnerving silence. "Roy Mustang."

The Colonel turned around wildly. The figure, whom he assumed was the owner of the voice, was an entity made out of light that appeared as if it were glowing darkness. Its face was blank, except for a knowing smile. It was sitting on the floor, but stood after Roy directed his attention to it.

Roy had a suspicion about who this was, but couldn't stop the question coming out of his mouth. "Who are you?"

The smirk on the being widened, and turned into an insane-looking grin. "I'm what you'd call God. I am the world, or more correctly the universe. I am the Truth. But more importantly," the entity replied in a rather happy tone, as if he had been awaiting the Colonel's appearance, "I am you." The Truth pointed at Roy as he said the last three words.

Roy swallowed the three words he desperately wanted to say; _what's going on_, and stared at the Truth wide eyed instead. A small thought appeared in his mind: _Is this what the Elric brothers went through?_

The Truth didn't seem to be phased by how quiet the Colonel was being.

"Now that you've been inside the gate, you realize I'm going to have to take something from you." A single bead of sweat rolled down Roy's face at these words. "Equivalent Exchange, alchemist."

The Truth continued smiling and slowly raised a finger to his face, about to where his eyes would be.

Roy's vision was fading now, and he could just barely see the Truth gain a pair of eyes much like the ones Mustang owned himself... And then, he was falling. But he _wasn't _falling. He was lying on the ground feeling as if he had just been punched in the stomach.

* * *

"Colonel!" This was a familiar voice.

"Lieutenant... Is that you?" Roy asked groggily. He opened his eyes, but it was still dark. He blinked several times before propping himself up on his elbows. He turned his head to get a good look on the room, to see if he was in the same room he had been in before entering the Gate. It was too dark to tell.

"Colonel I'm so glad you're okay... You disappeared for a moment there," Riza said. She watched as he turned his head in her direction, yet it didn't feel as if he was looking at her. She, despite the wounds she had taken from the last battle, walked up to him and knelt at Mustang's side. She didn't tell him that she had been so worried. "Are you alright? What happened?" the questions nearly flooded out of her mouth.

"I'm fine," he said quietly, a small smile etched on his face. "Don't worry..." From where he assumed her voice was coming from, she was kneeling down next to him. He desperately wanted to grab her hand and cradle her and tell her that he was fine and that she got worried for nothing and tell her that every thing would be okay, but he wasn't sure where her hand was and didn't want to grope around in the dark for it.

"Roy," Riza said, a little disbelieving that she hadn't addressed him by his rank, "something's wrong." Only she'd be able to tell from the look in his face. "What's going on?"

Roy sat up and stared ahead blankly, before placing a hand directly in front of his face.

"I'm fine, Riza," he repeated, feeling a little more comfortable that he wouldn't get scolded to not use her first name. "I'm just having a little trouble seeing anything... Are we in the same room we were in before? It's gotten so dark."

A somber tone started playing in Riza's eyes, even though she furrowed her brow. "Roy..." was all she could say at the moment. She was shuddering a little and clenched her fists tight. Even though she only understood the first law of alchemy, she knew what had happened to the Elric brothers and she knew what had just happened to Mustang. "Roy, you..."

Roy turned to her once again. He couldn't see her, but the tone in her voice told him all he needed to know. Still, oh how he wanted to _see_ her face. This darkness persisted, however, and try as he might to squint his eyes to see through it or blink several times to grow accustomed to it, he just never did.

The next thing he knew was that Riza was hugging him. He didn't expect it, but who was he to complain? He placed a hand on her back and took a breath in, smelling her hair and the soft metallic smell of a gun that accompanied it. Roy placed a hand on her back, forgetting for a moment that it both hands were still bleeding. He placed the other in her hair and stroked it a little bit.

It may have been dark, but if the Hawk's Eyes could see through it, then he assured himself he'd be fine.

Riza was a little glad that he couldn't see the few tears rolling down her cheeks. She took a deep breath in, trying to calm herself down. She'd have to tell him what conclusion she'd come to and now was a better time than any. "Roy," she said softly, whispering so only he could hear, "the same thing that took the Elric's bodies... It took your eyesight."


End file.
